Enel begins production at Bungala solar project in Australia

June 6th 2018 | Multiple countries | Renewables | Enel

On May 30th Enel SpA said that it had started producing electricity commercially from the 137.7-MW Bungala Solar One photovoltaic plant, located near Port Augusta in the province of South Australia. The Italian company said that the plant's first 45-MW feeder unit had been connected to Australia's power grid.

The power plant is the first part of the 275-MW Bungala Solar project, which Enel is setting up via a joint venture with Dutch Infrastructure Fund BV, a Netherlands-based company. Enel said that the Bungala Solar project is now the largest solar facility producing electricity in Australia. Of the US$315m investment planned for the 275-MW project, Enel's share will be about US$157m.

The company is financing the project via a mix of equity and loans. A long-term agreement is already in place for Origin Energy, an Australian utility, to buy power from the Bungala solar project. The Bungala Solar facility is expected to be fully connected to the grid in early 2019.

Enel has previously pledged to become "carbon neutral" or exit the fossil-fuel power business altogether. In January it issued a green bond, which tied the issue's proceeds to environment-friendly investments, worth around €1.3bn, in the European market. In April Enel received its first renewable-energy tender in India.